Category Archives: Reviews: Non Single Malt Scotch
Grant’s 12yo
Whisky: Grants’s 12yo, 40%
Producer: William Grant & Sons, Scotland
± £20 ≈ R240 (Unavailable in SA)
Produced by Williams Grant & Sons (owners of Glenfiddich and Balvenie), this blended whisky is equal parts single malts and grain whiskies, with the components married together for six months in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. Distribution of this expression seems to be limited to France and South America.
Nose: Rich bouquet of citrus, honey and dry grass. The grass is not quite on fire, but it is smoldering with wisps of smoke and earth. Slightly waxy with hints of cinnamon.
Taste: Full bodied and well rounded, with sherry notes and more spice, especially pepper. There’s also a subtle note of herbs ground with coffee and orange rind. Smoke is slightly more pronounced now, but still not exactly peaty. The viscosity a little weak for my liking.
Finish: Warming with the spice lingering but balanced with the sweeter honey. Slightly tannic and astringent.
My Score: 79
Another drinkable, good-value blended whisky from Grant’s. Flavours are well married and the experience is smooth and easy. The faint smoke and earth notes are good nuances, with the grains providing varied sweetness. If you find yourself at a bar in France or South America, order a double.
Other Scores: JM’12 89.5
Redbreast 12yo Cask Strength
Whisky: Redbreast 12yo, 57.7%
Producer: Midleton Distillery, Ireland
R600 ≈ £48 (Unavailable in SA)
Launched late last year (2011) this cask strength release permanently joins the highly regarded 12yo and 15yo Redbreast range. Produced from a 68-cask batch (so there should be plenty of bottles to go round) it purportedly follows the same combination of first fill Spanish Oloroso sherry casks and American bourbon barrels as the 12yo.
Nose: Single pot still goodness! Deep sweetness, caramel, fried bananas. Begs to be drunk. An elegant grain spice woven artfully through. Beautifully balanced, robust and rich. Although I’m dying to taste this (and literally my mouth is salivating) you could easily nose this all night.
Taste: Astonishingly rich and complex but all the while composed and purposeful. Vanilla, toasted oak, barley and powerful wood spice. Candied fruit, chili chocolate and an oily silkiness. The 57.7% makes it dangerous stuff and amplifies the spice, but don’t you dare dilute this with water!
Finish: Long with toffee and butterscotch. Creamy vanilla, almost milkshake like. Spice and fruits still in abundance.
My Score: 92
What an experience! Every aspect of this whiskey is skillfully constructed, rich and powerful. This whisky undoubtedly enters my top 10 best whiskies list (if not top 5). Looking forward to the next batch, but before then I need to secure bottles of this one. Irish whiskey has a new king!
Other Scores: DR 96
Johnnie Walker Double Black
Whisky: Johnnie Walker Double Black NAS, 43%
Producer: Johnnie Walker & Sons, Scotland
R290 ≈ £23
Initially released in early 2010 to only several international duty-free stores, this more peaty/smoky version of the standard Black Label subsequently made its way into a wider range of duty-free locations after successful tests, and now looks to have found it’s permanent place among it’s Johnnie Walker siblings in any well-stocked bottle store.
Nose: At first a robust grain and oak sweetness. There is peat smoke here but not what one would expect given the positioning of this whisky- very light. Lots of BBQ sauce (the authentic American kind) cooked to a sticky coating over a rack of meaty ribs – well, it was right here, where’d it go? Grilled fruit kebabs now. I want that BBQ again!
Taste: As you have to expect from JW this is smooth and very palatable (read: drinkable). The smoke is more concentrated now but still no where near a peat monster. Wood spice, the toasted wood kind. A bit of zing near the end but overall very well composed.
Finish: Smoking pineapple with a weak chili powder and spice rub. Sticky BBQ returns but more sweetness and less meat. Definitely more smoke here than previously experienced, but always tamed.
My Score: 83
The finish is my favourite part of this whisky with the sticky pineapple and BBQ a delectable duo. If the BBQ sauce on the nose was less elusive I’d up the score by at least another two points. If you like peat this will be easy and enjoyable drinking. Well balanced, and a strong contender for the star of the JW range.
Other Scores: Couldn’t find any
Grant’s Ale Cask Finish
Whisky: Grant’s Cask Editions No. 1, Ale Cask Finish NAS, 40%
Producer: William Grant & Sons, Scotland
± £20 ≈ R250 (Unavailable in SA)
Produced by Williams Grant & Sons (owners of Glenfiddich and Balvenie), this blended whisky is finished in ex-Edinburgh Ale casks for around 3 months with the style of ale brewed to Grant’s specifications at the Belhaven Brewery in Scotland. It’s the only blend in the Grant’s range that has no peat influence.
Nose: Lots of malt and fruit in equal quantities, with oranges, pears and a dash of honey. Its a light nose with cereal and grain notes. The malt has a bit of tartness to it.
Taste: Lightness continues on delivery with the cereals notes more pronounced and grass notes creeping in. A bit nutty now as well as an oak bitterness and an oily waxiness. Citrus fruits still here with a hint of banana.
Finish: Bitter and drying with malt, oak spice and honey. A tad on the short side.
My Score: 73
For an entry level blend this is par for course, with a drinkable, good value for money whisky and the added benefit of gaining insight into the result of maturing whisky in ex-ale casks. It’s nothing ground-breaking though, with the finishing period seeming to amplify the malt and cereal notes. It will see you and your company through an enjoyable evening.
Other Scores: JM’11 89
Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt (Shackleton’s Replica)
Whisky: Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt NAS, 47.3%
Producer: Whyte & Mackay, Scotland
R1300 ≈ £101
This blended malt whisky is a replica of the Mackinlay’s whisky, discovered in 2007 buried beneath Ernest Shackleton’s hut near Antarctica since 1909. (See my earlier post for more details.) Included in the blend are malts from Speyside, the Highlands and the Islands, with the oldest malt from the closed Glen Mhor distillery, distilled in their final year of operation in 1983. “Limited” to 50,000 bottles.
Nose: Quite light and sweet to start with unprocessed honey and farm notes. Then it develops into more of an industrial nose with a petrol, paraffin, wood shavings and dust. Also burnt butter and crushed nuts.
Taste: Very creamy. Very soft. Lots of contrast to this with herbal notes, a mix of spices (ginger most evident), sweetness in the form of pears and honey again and a small breeze of smoke. A refined maturity on the palette. Sweet, dry white wine. The entire affair with its range of flavours brings to mind some sort of medieval, medicinal ointment.
Finish: A tad bitter, with some lemon coming through and red apple skin . Dry and long.
My Score: 84
This whisky has a remarkable range of flavours with each being a reflecting point instead of being lost in the blending of it’s constituent parts. Overall its a light and refined blended malt unlike any other I’ve tried. Although very good, remember the price includes the fancy packaging and overall hype of this recreated, once-lost whisky.
Other Scores: DR 92
